Leeds United: Norwich City’s Feeder Club

With Jonny Howson leaving for Norwich City, it’s almost impossible to believe some fans can still defend Ken Bates.

‘Almost’ is the key word however. You see, we’ve been here before. Back when we were sinking out of the Premier League heading towards financial ruin, there was plenty of fans willing to believe that Cyril Chapuis was the kind of quality signing that would rescue us. That El Tel and Peter Reid would “steady the ship”.

Living in denial is just less painful I suppose? We’ve all been there.

The all too predictable reaction of “it makes good business sense” and “he was overrated anyway” will inevitably follow. It’s nothing more than fans refusing to face up to the reality of another key player lost under Ken Bates.

Our drop in form since Jonny Howson’s injury will be written off as mere coincidence. Bates won’t be blamed for his inability to keep hold of key players, Jonny Howson will take the stick for failing to believe in Leeds United. But why should he? I certainly don’t…

The fact Jonny Howson had only five months left on his contract is less a reflection of his commitment to Leeds United, more a haunting realisation that even our home grown, Leeds United supporting club captain doesn’t believe this club is going anywhere. Something the club’s statement certainly attests to.

Anyone questioning why Leeds United aren’t back in the Premier League yet and why Simon Grayson needs so many players each season need only look at the example set by Norwich City. Key players don’t grow on trees and when you find them, you should do everything in your power to keep them together. Only then will you have success.

Norwich did that. Norwich are now in the Premier League. Leeds United meanwhile sold Max Gradel, Kasper Schmeichel, Jermaine Beckford, Neil Kilkenny, Bradley Johnson, Fabian Delph and now, Jonny Howson. And almost exclusively – Kasper Schmeichel aside perhaps – these players were followed by average replacements purchased on the cheap.

This is not the philosophy of a club that should be in the Premier League. This is the philosophy of a club languishing in the Championship, spending the absolute minimum each year, happy to make up the numbers. We may as well merge with Barnsley and have done with it…

With some fans already setting fire to season ticket renewal forms and many more claiming they won’t renew, news of Jonny Howson’s exit is only going to make matters worse. Our captain’s jumped ship, why shouldn’t the rest of us? Our irrational sense of loyalty isn’t getting us anywhere after all.

I think I may explode next time someone says that Bates saved our club. Totally gutted that howson has left.. I may join tss in not going to home games and just going away

dh lufc

@dess Why as fans should we let Bates stop us watching Leeds, I’ve been watching Leeds for over thirty years and I have seen some crap players in that time, but I still turned up, It’s Bates that has to be separated from Elland Road not the fans.

I haven’t joined in the Bates out cries before at games because I don’t think it helps the players, but I will this week,

@dh lufc@dess Because we’re not going to pay to have the piss taken out of us.

Shout all you want, Bates fucking loves it. And I would too. I’d stand centre circle Elland Road and let you hurl all the abuse you like at me for £30 each. I’d do it with a big fucking smile on my face too.

He’s right when he calls us morons. Only football fans take such shit levels of customer service and keep coming back for more, all because of “loyalty”. It’s irrational. I don’t enjoy it any more and I’m not going to continue funding this madness, all so Bates can have a comfortable retirement and slag me (the customer) off on a weekly basis.

dess

@TSS @dh lufc what if post bates is not what we hope it is. I really don’t know what to think.
If grayson is a Leeds fan should he not walk out too or is it because he is paid by bates then its ok for him to stay.

@dess@dh I’m in no position to say what other fans should and shouldn’t do, I just know I’m not enjoying it any more and I refuse to continue funding this madness. Bates has won in my mind. Let’s see how he copes when attendances continue to fall.

If you want an idea of what Bates is about, take another look at the renewal letter. I critiqued it on my own site – http://tinyurl.com/7efvhez (I write stuff like that for a living) and it’s clear that he’s not arsed about selling the club to fans or players. It’s there. It’s his. He’ll do whatever he wants, and you’ll pay for the privilage, you fucking moron.

I’m not renewing. Because, frankly, I’m not enjoying it. And I didn’t even say that in League One.

Feel exactly the same mate. Once the enjoyment has gone you’re basically paying to have the piss taken out of you.

KevinScorah

@TSS Grayson should make himself a legend by resigning. Tell everyone he doesn’t agree with what Bates is doing and then send a “come and get me” message to any future Leeds Chairman. Let’s face it, Ferguson could manage Leeds and under these conditions, not get us anywhere near the Prem. Larry will get another job easily enough, after all he is a young manager with no ‘failures’ on his record. Fanciful I know, but FFS, how can he look at himself in the mirror?

@KevinScorah Loves the club. Same kind of misguided loyalty we’ve shown in facilitating Bates’ reign of terror by buying tickets.

HmeisterGeneral

I think you are being harsh on Barnsley to be fair. That is the calibre of club we now find ourselves on a par with

bully the leeds fan

Unbelievable another key player lost. What is so frustrating is that we sell these players (Johnson, Kilkenny, Gradel) for good money and never replace them. If Bates had done this at least once I would hold some hope. It makes me so angry. Who’s to say we won’t sell Snodgrass, Clayton, Mccormack and Aidy White there all rumored to be moving. Who could blame them when they could move to the giants of wigan and blackburn who after all will pay a bigger wage

He says he’s running a business but what sort of business doesn’t offer its best employees a pay rise, seriously pissing of it’s customers giving it an overpriced shit product. I for one or a few thousand will not be renewing and this business will go down with fewer and fewer customers.

dhoward1

True, Jonny would have signed if he thought we had a chance of going up by now and i am sure the offer would have been accepted in an instant, probably didn’t even consult Jonny.

I have tried to stay positive, forget all that’s behind the scenes and just watch the football but unless we BUY at least 2 quality players then i fear it will be a painful end to the season.

Our better players will be watching players Like Johnson, Gradel and Howson playing at the higest level and think ‘are they really much better than me?’ and the answer would be no, especially if you’re Snodgrass. If we don’t go up he will probably leave and i won’t blame him, he puts a shift in every game and i genuinly think he loves playing for Leeds, it will pain him finishing mid table every year. He’s far too good for that. Bad times :/

dhoward1

True, Jonny would have signed if he thought we had a chance of going up by now and i am sure the offer would have been accepted in an instant, probably didn’t even consult Jonny.

I have tried to stay positive, forget all that’s behind the scenes and just watch the football but unless we BUY at least 2 quality players then i fear it will be a painful end to the season.

Our better players will be watching players Like Johnson, Gradel and Howson playing at the higest level and think ‘are they really much better than me?’ and the answer would be no, especially if you’re Snodgrass. If we don’t go up he will probably leave and i won’t blame him, he puts a shift in every game and i genuinly think he loves playing for Leeds, it will pain him finishing mid table every year. He’s far too good for that. Bad times :/

dhoward1

True, Jonny would have signed if he thought we had a chance of going up by now and i am sure the offer would have been accepted in an instant, probably didn’t even consult Jonny.

I have tried to stay positive, forget all that’s behind the scenes and just watch the football but unless we BUY at least 2 quality players then i fear it will be a painful end to the season.

Our better players will be watching players Like Johnson, Gradel and Howson playing at the higest level and think ‘are they really much better than me?’ and the answer would be no, especially if you’re Snodgrass. If we don’t go up he will probably leave and i won’t blame him, he puts a shift in every game and i genuinly think he loves playing for Leeds, it will pain him finishing mid table every year. He’s far too good for that. Bad times :/

Loiner

It’s fucking inexplicable that we as fans sit back and take this shit off Bates. He needs to be forced out of the club by consistent lobbying – like what the blackburn fans are doing to Kean. I’ll ad more reasonsed point once i’ve cooled down.

bully the leeds fan

@Loiner Problem is mate fans are protesting with their feet attendances are plummeting fast

@bully the leeds fan@Loiner I think the drop in attendances, forcing financial problems none of us want to see, is perhaps the only realistic chance we have of getting rid of him. The only reason he put Chelsea up for sale was because they were going under – their fans protested against him for years, got them nowhere.

WoodyUK

I

WoodyUK

I feel your obvious pain.

If he is adamant he will not sign a contract extension then the club really do need to sell him as £2M is significant money in the championship (though we would be entitled to something at the end of the season as he is home grown) and I for one don’t think we have a hope in hell of promotion this season so he wouldn’t sign when the season was over (same for Aidy White). The lad wants to play premiership football and he doesn’t feel we will get him that as soon as he wants it. The fault for this however is clearly with the management due to lack of quality squad (spoken about it before), not willing to take financial risks for the greater good of promotion etc etc. They made their mistakes before the season started by not investing early (then blaming players for letting them down at the last minute and employing has beens and never were players instead) and they have compounded it by leaving it late in the January transfer window. Players like Rachubka, Paynter, Bromby, Sam and Connolly on the fringes we can’t get rid of and players that are core like Clayton, Howson, White, McCormack and Snodgrass all rumoured to be wanted by premiership sides and unwilling to extend contracts. Rancid situation at Elland Road at the moment, I thought I could save my misery over White and Howson departures till the end of the season but I was wrong

DubaiWhite

Denial was the word. And I think this page especially has been full of denials for the past year. I am also also a life-long supporter of Leeds and I will be until I die but I can’t deny the facts that we are not progressing in the direction we all want. And the facts have been there since the beginning, The probabilty that would ever improve on last year’s 7th place was quite slim after selling Schemichel, Jonsson, Kilkenny and Gradel and not recruiting players of the same quality. These players were not brilliant although they were in most cases better than the ones we recruited as replacements.

And werer they all snatched by Man United or Chelsea, no we lost them to Norwich, Leicester and Bristol City.

Now after loosing was Howson I think it is obvious to everyone that we do not stand a chance; not even our club captain do believe in the clubs possibilities to get promoted any longer.

@DubaiWhite Yep, my own personal denial was that I believed we had a play-off capable team at the start of the season. That was based on keeping key players mind, I didn’t expect to lose Max Gradel and Jonny Howson.

number1inyorkshire

@TSS@DubaiWhite and we had a good manager waiting to get a transfer kitty to show us what he could do unshackled

derrysdouble

Awful day and I’m very angry but please stop using Schemichel and Kilkenny in your arguments about the squad, are you seriously saying that Clayton and Lonergan are not better replacements – maybe you don’t get to go much from Dubai thou fella. We should have kept BJ and Max as they both were fantasic last year but this sale is completely different with Howson being a Leeds lad and fan and we still couldn’t keep him and the team has looked threadbare all season anyway so

@derrysdouble What’s Dubai got to with it? I live in London haven’t moved from Leeds only this year.

Was never Kilkenny’s biggest fan, but looking at things objectively, we did well with him in the team. Would be overly critical to simply dismiss his ability because I didn’t rate him personally – other people do.

Agree on Schmeichel also. I was calling his ability into question on here before anyone else – and getting slated for it I may add – and I said above he was the exception. But even then, do you think that had anything to do with the quality addition waiting in the stands, or the £750k net profit Ken Bates made from transaction? That’s why he was added.

What’s Dubai got to with it? I live in London having moved from Leeds only this year.

Was never Kilkenny’s biggest fan, but looking at things objectively, we did well with him in the team. Would be overly critical to simply dismiss his ability because I didn’t rate him personally – other people do.

Agree on Schmeichel also. I was calling his ability into question on here before anyone else – and getting slated for it I may add – and I said above he was the exception. But even then, do you think that had anything to do with the quality addition waiting in the stands, or the £750k net profit Ken Bates made from transaction? That’s why he was added.

Gryff

We could make a new Leeds, that plays in Blue & Gold (original colours).

Only it won’t be like Scumchester’s dissidents because our team will probably be playing (non)league games against Leeds within half a decade…

number1inyorkshire

we touched on this before the reason attendances are down is because there is no entertainment at

E R so that means the fans are not enjoying it .

ken bates is an idiot if he does not hear the fall out from this and people are voting with there feet wether he likes it or not they are ,it doesn’t really matter as to why it matters they are leaving in there hundreds and not going to E R .

we are not in the prem ,howson wants to play there ,he can see we will not be there this season or at the end of it for next so was never gonna sign we had to sell him at that point ,i never thought he would sign i said so before .

The reason he thought he couldn’t sign was there for all to see, a lack of ambition from the manager and the club ,no quality signings a wage structure that is hindering the life out of the team and strangling it within its constraints ,so much that players are not only leaving to the prem ,but to teams actually lower in the division than us .

we have had a good couple of seasons in real terms cup runs .decent crowds and good money going into the club ,i am not expecting us to sigh MESSI ,TEVEZ etc but we should be able to sign the quality players that are available at this level or at least some of them ,we have not signed any real genuine quality for years .

There is obviously some kind of problem as well with the manager ,why does he like loans so much .

Bates needs a football team ,to fund the rest of his stuff ,25.000 people are not just gonna turn up to howards every 2 weeks for a beer ,without that he has nothing .

I am not expecting him to do a risdale no one is, but he must know in English football the riches are in the prem so why is he doing everything he can to not get us there .

There has to be a reason just what is going on at E R that has everyone so baffled ,we touch on many opinions on here ,thats all they are opinions we never know the real story its time we did and the hierarchy at leeds were held to account all of them

@number1inyorkshire I don’t think SG likes loans, I don’t think he has a choice. It stems from the lack of investment, when you have no money to spend you’re left scraping the bargain basement and the quality is as you’d expect

GilFisher

@TSS @number1inyorkshire I agree. And if he can turn Howson into four months of Townsend and Delph, he has done well with what he’s given.

WIll23

@TSS@number1inyorkshire There are plenty of decent players available for reasonable money…like Clayton for example. It’s just Grayson has a poor success rate. He managed to make Bannan and Livermore look like lemons last season.

@WIll23@number1inyorkshire The bargain basement is a numbers game. Some work out, some don’t. They’re unpredictable by nature. If they were just quality, there’d be 20 clubs sniffing round them. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

dh lufc

@number1inyorkshire I am devastated at the news about Howson, especially selling him to Norwich, but one thing I can,t understand, why are Norwich, who are doing ok in the prem, buying a player who is out injured?

And maybe some of the fans who have been on these forums slagging of Howson for going missing in certain games will now realise they should have supported the player, because he is certainly going to be missed now,

WIll23

@dh lufc@number1inyorkshire Howson’s mind has obviously been elsewhere for the past 12 months as his performances have fallen away considerably. Now, I cannot necessarily blame him for that, but do not try and ignore the fact that Mr Leeds has not cut the mustard this season or more importantly in the 2nd half of last season.

Is he a good player?

Probably and Lambert will probably get more out of him than we ever saw once he returns to fitness, but then he would be playing as part of a team who know what they are doing, are well organised and disciplined, and for a manager who is tactically astute.

illiyav

We are now a selling club. I for one am extremely disappointed by Ken Bates management of our club. In League One I put up with it, we ‘all’ thought that things we’re starting to look up and we would hopefully get promoted to the Prem.Before the Howson news was announced there was talk of Delph coming back on loan, Clayton, Howson, Delph, Snodgrass (sounds like a pretty good midfield to get you promoted) I was marginally optimistic, now I’m throughly devastated! There is no current investment back into the squad. Grayson has done a great job will hardly any funds, but how can you build a team when the ‘man upstairs’ is intent on selling off all your best assets. It won’t be long till White, Snodgrass & Lees get taken from under our noses! I’m personally not giving that man a penny until he’s out of our club. I wouldn’t care if it was Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United or Liverpool we’re getting our players but we’re letting sides like Norwich, Leicester etc. get the better of us.You only have to remember when we we’re in the same league as Norwich and when we got promoted look what happen to them and just look at what has happened to us.What confuses me the most, is none of this actually makes any ‘business sense’. Leeds fans getting sent renewal letters in Jan, then days latter we’re ‘selling our Captain’, arguably one of the best young talents outside the premiership, I’d say that Johnny is the best midfielder technically in the Champ.

We’ve received a mediocre 2 mil for him because ‘a certain someone’ was happy to let his contract run down to 6 months, without showing him the ambitions of the club and fighting tooth and nail to keep him. That money will disappear and will not be re-invested into the squad. Norwich are a bigger a club than us…I can’t believe it, but they are doing a bloody good job of showing us how a football club should be managed and run. Yet, it could of been all so much different for us.

Gryff

@illiyav Very good comment!

Leeds didn’t want this to come out publicly so I suppose they hoped to woo fans into getting season tickets before they found out we lost our captain?

Howson’s our player and we will all support him because of that when he’s in a Leeds kit. If Bates thinks we’ll do the same for the old-style crap like Spring, Gregan, Stone etc. then he’s sadly mistaken.

WoodyUK

A selling club ? Right now I don’t think we are. We’ve sold key players like Casper, Jonny and Gradel but that makes good business sense if the only option is to let them go on free transfers months later which we have also done with Beckford, Johnson and Kilkenny. I have a feeling we have two problems. Firstly KBs view of a competetive wage in the Championship is inferior to other Championship clubs views for their key players and secondly the players that we have of a better standard than the other dross are all ambitious and want to be playing in the premiership every week (and don’t believe they will do it anytime soon at Leeds). Either way it’s a management issue that has to be resolved.

Gazzalew

@WoodyUK yes but if he didn’t spend 7 fucking million on a redevelopment project that was unnecessary then we wouldn’t be following this ridiculous wage cap and we would be able to match the demands of key players and get promoted. Ken’s an old senile wanker who has no friends and is delirious with his business plan. Nothing to do with our manager – he knows leeds are up shit creek without a paddle and i’m sure if he wasn’t a life long Leeds fan he would have jumped ship a long time ago.

Gryff

@Gazzalew@WoodyUK And we’re not making it up. It’s all there in black and white for us to read each year. Like TSB summed up on the latest financial results (sure TSS won’t mind me linking to them):

Wages were up by 12%, meaning Leeds must have one of the best Staff Cost to Turnover ratios in the league – wages were 50% of turnover, compared to 52% of turnover the year before. For comparison, UEFA recommend 70% of turnover as the threshold that most clubs should achieve (although most in the Premier League exceed this), and that spending 50%-60% of turnover on wages is the ideal target level. Leeds had £5.5m to spare before reaching the 70% figure.

@WIll23@Gryff@Gazzalew@WoodyUK The problem is, Leeds United are spending money on building work every year, On pointless bars, the East Stand etc. That all adds to the posted profits.

I suspect Ken also tries to keep profits down as much as possible to reduce tax bill. I wouldn’t read too much into Leeds’ incredibly vague published accounts.

The only real use of them is the wage bill which pathetic. Not from a % of turnover perspective, but from the fact there are 12-13 teams in this division capable of spending more despite the fact Leeds fans are charged more than them all and the club getting higher attendances than the majority. Something is amiss.

WIll23

@TSS@Gryff@Gazzalew@WoodyUK

Bates should have invested more funds in the squad, as that is the core business, I agree.

Facilities look after themselves when a team is successful.

But, I still think Grayson is not good enough to spend what money he has very wisely nor is a decent enough manager for LUFC. It is a unwinable argument however…a chicken & egg situation.

derrysdouble

Was replying to the Dubai fella on the post below mine fella, he’s actually quite lucky if he aint been to any of the last 6 – 7 home games thou. Again I was shocked when Kaspar was sold because the club handled it so badly but Lonergon has come in and wiped away any resentment I feel on that score

@derrysdouble Oh right, I see. If you click the reply button beneath the individual comment it puts it below it (like this)

derrysdouble

@TSS ha ha ha sorry I pressed reply direct from the email and assumed would do the same, keep up the good work fella

Ron_Galea

I’m preparing for McCormack’s exit as we speak. Grayson’s response when quizzed was simply ‘player’s will only leave on our terms’………Ken Bates is the new Del Boy. Everything is for sale.

Colin

Something changed today – in me and a lot of other Leeds fans. There was a line and with Bates’ recent nasty Season Ticket renewal letter, he was edging towards it, but with the sale of Jonny Howson, he’s well and truly crossed it, and there’s no going back.

Players come and players go, but Jonny Howson was different – he was one of us – a local, a Yorkshireman, but more than that a Leeds United fan. Jonny cared. The way he windmilled his arms after scoring the winner at Carlisle, the reaction on his face after scoring the goal to put Leeds back on track against Bristol when we ultimately got promoted – that was passion. Few players have that passion and it’s something that is God given – you either have it or you don’t. Whether you thought Jonny was having a good or bad game, you could never say he didn’t always try, and often compromised in being played out of position (Left Wing, Right Back anyone??) but he never moaned.

You’re not alone either mate. Worrying state of affairs at the minute, Bates is going to financially ruin the club if he continues on like this.

Jack R

Leeds United is being take apart bit by bit. Supporters should boycott the club until Bates goes….

Thinking about all the players that have ended up going to Premiership clubs Mr Bates could have made a fortune (ie getting to the Premiership) if he’d have just had faith and paid the likes of Howson, Gradel, Johnson, Beckford what they wanted…. If we have kept these players we would of had a better chance of the play offs last year and an excellent chance of promotion this time round.

And there is talk of Clayton going as well…

I feel sick…. Get rid of KEN BATES and his cronies….

Maldini65

………….It’s obvious things will get worse……. a thred that Clayton is becoming a Bolton Player as we speak!! Anyone else getting this bad wind??!!

saltburnwhite

I am GUTTED , it just shows you how badly this club is being run , even to the extent a leeds born and bred supporting captain has to leave his roots and club ! Bates and co will blame howson , however we all know as its common sense that if jonny was offered the contract he wanted & DESERVED that he would have stayed . Also i might like to point out that maybe some so called leeds fans take a look in the mirror as alot of forums and more disreputable blogs than this has alot of idiots spouting of about how crap jonny howson was and how he doesnt deserve a start in the team etc ….well be careful what you wish for……….? we have lost our captain …..our BEST player and the last bit of SOUL leeds united had left in it!

I seriously have had enough now ..delph in to appease the fans ….rubbish ALL fans should boycott all home games for the rest of the season and sit outside the ground and cheer the lads on from there , because this shyster and his YES MEN need to go NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

saltburnwhite

snodgrass , clayton and lees next???

ramblinjohn

that’s right, why would they want to stay?

mattbb1

i’m not going back to Elland Road until Bates gedts the hell outta there – end of discussion. I will continue to love my team and look for their result first, but i cant really expect much. When you lose the catalogue of talent that we have what do you expect other than to fail. Bates sold our best talent (Hulse, Kilgallon) the season after the play off debacle, and never replaced them. The same is happening now, he has run out of ideas, and thrown the money he made on selling gradel into those pointless exec boxes – roll up roll up come and watch 3rd division football played by 35 year old burn outs.

Captaincrash

A pathetic day in our recent history. Zero ambition on the playing side. We are indeed not famous anymore or anytime soon. Sad.

truefan

We are a championship side and if a permiership club wants to buy ANY of our players who are at the end of their contract, we will sell. Simple economics for any club in our division. Would you offer Howson £50K per week when all the other players are earning £10k. As fans we need to be realistic – there is a massive gulf between a premiership club and a championship club in terms of finances. That being said, I won’t be renewing my season ticket, nor my son’s (he’s now reached 16) as I cannot afford to pay approx £1000. This is where the problem lies, we charge higher tier premiership prices for championship football. Reduce prices, fill the ground and I can stomach having to sell our best players to the premiership. 20 years a season ticket holder and now reduced to picking matches.

ramblinjohn

@truefan what you’re saying is we will NEVER go up…this is one of the top five clubs in england…without a doubt…and we need an owner and chairman who can put us back there. Bates is an embarassment and must go NOW

truefan

We are no different to Leicester, Derby, Forest, Norwich, QPR , West Ham, Sheffield Wedensday etc – the list is endless. We are a club that will always bounce around the premiership / championship unless we get some rich benefactor step in and take us over. This looks unlikely particularly in the present climate.

NorthEastLoiner

@truefan Are you ken bates love child? A club like ours should have ambition and failing to convince a local lad who’s club captain that he’s better sticking with Leeds than going to Norwich shows what ambition he thinks the management have – none

RogerSmith1

My sentiments entirely and well written. What saddens me in addition is that Ken Bates does not appear to be a nice or friendly man. Will not tolerate criticism, he’s rude ignorant, evasive and he thinks that’s clever. Openly dislikes Leeds fans and will never be a Leeds United supporter, never was. At least Brian Clough had a sense of humour.

saltburnwhite

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON ……………..COME ON EVERYONE THIS IS IT , IM NOT HAVING THIS SHIT FROM BATES ANYMORE ………………WE ALL SERIOUSLY HAVE TO DO SOMETHING , IT FEELS LIKE JONNY WOODGATE ALLOVER AGAIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

apologies for bad language but i feel so let down !

dh lufc

I am sorry but I can’t buy into this not going to ER – It’s ultimately going to make matters worse and encourage more players to leave and deter other players from coming.

We need to unite behind the team, our team, and get Bates out out out.

The previous protests have been too small and Bates could ignore them, why not thirty thousand turn up and make sure nobody can ignore them.

Some countries can overturn a government by protesting, we just got to get shut of a Chelsea Pensioner.

COME ON LEEDS!

numpty

@dh lufc That’s 30,000 tickets he will have sold, at an average of about 30 quid each, I don’t think he’ll mind that, do you ?

KevinScorah

@dh lufc Bates is too thick skinned to leave because the fans hate him. 100,000 could chant “Bates Out” and he’d still choose not to hear them. Only 2 people can get him out – The Grim Reaper or an Abramovic Wannabe. The latter no longer exists and even if they did, Bates would inflate the price to a ludicrous level forcing them to buy Wednesday or suchlike.

Therefore, the only hope is the man with the scythe. Anyone have his number or know anyone who could perhaps – er – hasten his appearance?

ramblinjohn

agree with every single word…this is beyond a joke…bates is the single barrier to progress for this club and we need him out now

Kevhird

Interested in what our good friend Lorimer thinks on this one.

KevinScorah

On the upside, 8 more points and we won’t be relgated.

Frogman

I have seen and supported LUFC through tough times but this has news is terrible. I hope I’m wrong but I feel the only way is backwards for us now. Why would ambitious young talents like Lees, Clayton, Snodgrass etc want to stay at a club showing no ambition and selling their greatest assets?

I’m totally negged out about this!

MOT

Frogman

Typo* “this news is terrible”

Mark E L Wilson

How does two players going make it we’re their feeder club? One was out of contract(wanted too much money) the other won’t sign a new deal(10k a wk not enough) if I loved a club I would play for 5k a wk and still have a comfortable lifestyle. When they retire at 30 something still young enough to work elsewhere. Nowadays players only show loyalty if the money is outrageous…..MOT no need to blame Bates because of his Oldham connections…..

Dallas Debbie

We weren’t very good when he played in a 4 man midfield and at 23, has he improved to a point where he is at his peak now? I think it’s a good deal, if 2 million is the price,as long as its spent (pigs might fly) on a quality addition! If he doesn’t want top play for us then let him go!! Mot.

The Scratching Shed

Of course you would Mark E L Wilson because it’s easy to say when you’re not in Jonny Howson’s position. I’m sure you’d go down to Elland Road and do the plumbing at a massive discount too.
The fact of the matter is, this club is showing absolutely no ambition. Howson doesn’t believe we’ll be in the Premier League any time soon, and he’s as tired as the supporters watching key player after key player leave.
As for only having 5 month left on his contract Dallas Debbie you’re letting that cloud the issue. The real issue is that a homegrown, Leeds United captain doesn’t believe this club has the ambition to make the Premier League. That’s a shocking state of affairs, and he’s right. Don’t fool yourself into thinking we’ll ever see the cash again either, we’ve been here before.

saltzby

I am seriosly thinking off packing this football lark in. It’s bad for my health. I have renewed my season ticket on line but do you know what? following the shambolic way this club has been run since the non investment at the end of last season to todays news I really do not want to go to any more matches. I feel sick and very sad. Bates is a toss pot and I am starting to hate him. My advice to myself is stop attending matches until Bates has gone and the club show ambition. Do not follow blindly down the alley to doom and gloom. How can I suuport a policy that I do not agree with and makes me unhappy? When I work hard all week what the hell am I doing to myself. By turning up at Elland Road means that I endorse what Bates is doing. Conclusion stuff the idea of singing Bates Out I have to vote with my feet and I vow not to return to Elland Road until Bates has gone. Like I say I feel devastated.

Gryff

@saltzby He’ll be dead within a decade. Then we’ll get back on track…

Chareose

@Gryff@saltzby

no……………..Ken will live to a hundred and twelve then hand over Leeds United to Alex Ferguson using a video recording remeniscent of Brewsters Millions

I’m atheist but believe in the Devil – it’s hard not to when you’ve lived with 7 years of Ken.

Proud Dissident

Some have raised on here the belief that Ken Bates’ death is the only way he will leave this club. Well I’m not holding my breath, because I have long held the belief that the irrascible old bugger sold his soul to the Devil some time ago, in exchange for eternal life.

All we can hope for is that Satan finds Kenneth too unpleasant a business partner and reneges on the deal. Hopefully soon.

And when that happens, we are going to provide the media with some surreal scenes. I can see it now……

Harry Gration – “And its over to Elland Road to gauge the reaction of Leeds United fans to Ken’s untimely death following a freak accident involving an acid bath…..”

Tanya Arnold – “Hello Harry, there are incredible scenes here……”

Transmission aborted as Tanya is trample underfoot by a conga chain of singing and dancing leeds fans in jester hats.

Paul S Wales

Will be interested to see who we bring in to appease the disgruntled masses, you never know we could all be pleasantly surprised come the weekend. Delph Lichaj, good centre half and striker and Howson will be a distant memory. I too was gutted when I heard, but life goes on. I’m surprised I haven’t seen any comments in favour of this move, where are all the people that slagged him off week in week out? Conspicuous by their absence. Surely uncle Ken can’t be planning to pocket these funds too? There will just be away fans at ER soon. I’m trying to remain upbeat because I bought 4 tickets only Monday for the Ipswich game and i’m still looking forward to it being a Leeds fan, six hour round trip and all chins up everyone it can only get better, right?

Frogman

@Paul S Wales I too have a long trip to see the boys v Ipswich on Saturday, a 4 hour trip but unlike you i am not looking forward to it, the result is inevitable!

Regarding signing, Delph, Lichaj, Smith (Spurs) they will be short term fixes, loan deals and nothing more. This in no way makes up for losing a talisman, surely? You can’t be happy with the short termism of a strategy like this?

Paul S Wales

@Frogman@Paul No way happy, I was firstly angry, then gutted, but it’s done and until I see the replacement(s) I refuse to get too downhearted, and I firmly believe we’ll beat Ipswich on Saturday. MOT

Frogman

@Paul S Wales @Paul I really hope we can mate, don’t think I can take anymore disappointment!

If Papa Smurf does put his hands in his pocket and that is a big if, then who knows, I guess your right we all need to try find some glimmer of hope to hang onto and support our team, starting with Ipswich.

we will bring in a mass of loanees and trialists, plaster the leaking holes with bits of chewing gum and used bog roll in order to keep kens season ticket gravy train rolling in and then try to find an entire team of loanees (maybe with a couple of expensive permenents in there to sugar up the nieve leeds fans into buying season tickets) in the summer

Its all right bleating on that Bates is a twat and we want rid of him but how on earth is that ever going to happen? The tight miserable old Chelsea Pensioner owns the club he aint going to sack himself is he?

MOT

Charlie Big Potatoes

Whilst I’m highly disappointed we didn’t value our club captain enough to warrant offering a decent wage the thing that absolutely worries me most is what Snodgrass, Lees, White, Clayton & McCormack will think of all this and the message it sends out?!

They’re arguably the core of our team, the best players in the squad and all attracting premiership interest. Why would they want to stay at a club that shows absolutely no ambition and barely values it’s key players?! Without wanting to be a complete doom monger I honestly see an exodus of all of them within the next few windows.

Essentially, if a loyal, lifelong Leeds fan and club captain in Howson thinks the grass in greener elsewhere then it’s entirely likely that the rest of the team who have far less connection and heart invested in the club will also be stirred up by the hopeless precedent the club is setting and start looking elsewhere!

Midtable mediocrity makeweights; that is the message this sends out to our players, potential signings and the rest of our competitors.

Prudency is one thing I agree with given our previous transgressions, but shackling the club with an unrealistic and uncompetitive financial policy which is entirely inhibitive of growth and completely stifles any forward progress is utterly self-defeating and ultimately pointless.

NorthEastLoiner

@Charlie Big Potatoes Sadly I think you’re right and we’ll see the good players go and we’ll be left with those that noone else will take

BarneyWhite

good luck Jonny – you have done what we all would do in your position.

So what are we doing about it – We have two options

1.

protest starting Saturday – like Boro game but everyone – all those who are already boycotting games need to support this as well

half time – 15 mins of solid Bates out (I don’t agree this will impact the players, they understand)

Complete boycott of all club shops and food outlets – This is easy as many have been doing this for some time

Don’t renew for next season – simple. How can you when Snoddy, White and others will be following Howson soon. Mine is in the bin – that is me and two kids – £1000 down Kenneth

Organised campaign like scum – go for red scarf or something – a colour we hate all round the ground

Complete Boycott of one game – There will be some sub 20 k crowds before the seasons end so let’s go the whole way – maybe one of the mid week games.

I know the argument that this will hurt the club bit it is already hurting badly under the stewardship of Bates.

2.

Do nowt and suffer in silence

Colin

@BarneyWhite If someone wanted to boycott the game, they could do worse than go to Darlington instead and help them out rather than watch Leeds. And wear their Leeds shirts – not only support for Darlington but a show of support by Leeds against Bates.

BarneyWhite

good idea – just down the road from me – save £25 quid on petrol – my mate is a season ticket holder there and has been asked to pay all remaining games again (if they have any)

Chareose

@BarneyWhite

its a very good idea but it might upset the darlington fans…… and also does their stadium have enough room for 20,000 leeds fans?

Mark E L Wilson

This has nothing to do with Bates Oldham connections oooooops I mean Chelsea connections, you morons have been on his case from day one. FACT. Some one needs to make a stance against footballers and their ridiculous wage demands. Are you telling me you couldn’t live off 10k a week. thats not cheap

Duncan Massey

Are you Peter Lorimer in disguise?

Dallas Debbie

Peter lorimer has said, in the last hour,that Delphi deal is as good as done,howson’s gone so deal with it and move on! It’s us lot that is Leeds United,players come and go and say what they can to get a better deal for the most wages, the likes of Billy Bremner have long gone and it’s what a player can earn not who they supported as a kid!

Duncan Massey

But what happened to the club’s policy of not commenting on transfers until they are completed? Surely some inconsistency from good ole Pete – friend of the fans!

Si

Building work and bars = asset on balance street and adds value to LUFC Limited
Players are not classed as assets = no value added to bottom line.

If you are looking to sell something , the more material asset it has the greater the value.

The good news is that this muppet is looking to sell, if he was in it for the long term , he would be looking at the team, investong and eventually the PL…

He will .be looking for a buyer once the he has the appropriate figure rested nicely on the bottom line of the LUFC LTD balance sheet.

Colin

Just a thought – is there any possibility that Howson will turn Norwich down? Young baby and family in West Yorkshire, would it be the right time to move to Norfolk?

[Colin sees the straws and clutches them]

Si

@Colin 30k a week says he won’t turn it down

Gryff

You think they’re trying to play hardball and force him to back down? If that’s true then they just don’t have a handle on psychology.

I don’t see how he can stay now that this has happened. How can he have any kind of relationship with the club management?

banditsteve123

One thing that has got me thinking correct me if i have this wrong but howson is 23 came up through the ranks so dont we still get a fee if he stays till the end of the season then goes

On another not columbus saying rogers got his work permit if true then bye snoddy

Mark45

Shattered to hear the news about Howson, I have never felt as disillusioned and disconsolate about my club as I do this evening, it is a dark day when a club sells its home town, home grown, young, ambitious and yet to reach his peak club captain for (in todays transfer market) a bit of loose change. Yes he has 6 months left on his contract and could leave for free in the summer, we have been here several times in recent seasons and have never learned our lesson. The fact Howson is out of contract is a situation that Bates and grayson have 100% responsibility for. I am sure Leeds will invest some cash in a few more signings however we all know they will be short term loan deals that do not benefit the long term stability or growth of the club and simply move problems from one transfer window to the next.

I would really like to know Graysons position on this transfer, I hope he has the bottle and integrity to tell us. Its not the time for his usual cliche ridden drivel, supporters need to see some real leadership for a change. I suspect this may well be a watershed moment for Grayson, if he tows the Bates party line and repeats the drivel we have heard from him in previous transfer windows I will never be able to take him seriously again. There is now a clear divide between the supporters and Bates regime, Grayson needs to decide where his loyalty lies and who his passion is really for.

Already decided I wasn’t renewing my season ticket next season, how else can a Leeds supporter protest with bates at the helm. If protest doesn’t affect his finances he couldn’t give a shit. I care much more about my club than is rational to explain however I simply cannot continue to “validate” Bates regime by pouring any more of my hard earned money into his off shore pension fund.

Gutted, gutted, gutted.

NorthEastLoiner

@Mark45 The only option for Grayson as I see it is to resign. I know he’s made mistakes at times with selection and tactics but look at what happens behind his back. I prrsume he’s against this sale and has fought to keep Howson? How can anyone be expected to manage when the team he is trying to build is constantly being undermined by the best players being sold with no real effort being made to keep them. I know this will mean we struggle for a while after all who would come to manage us in our situation? But it’s the only way I see out of this spiral which if we continue as we are will have us back in Div 1 and worse. We are a big club and we deserve a management (chairman) who recognises and invests in the team in order to achieve

Chareose

@NorthEastLoiner@Mark45

howson leaving will be to do with our chairman not the manager………

Colin

@Chareose@NorthEastLoiner@Mark45 Chareose, if you were Manager of Leeds United (like Simon Grayson) would you allow a Chairman to make that decision on your behalf and put up with it, or tell him he’s an idiot and walk away?

NorthEastLoiner

@Chareose@Mark45 Yes but Grayson has to show there’s a line and Bates just crossed it! It shows Bates has no ambition to get into the PL and so Grayson can stay put and agree or leave

Chareose

@NorthEastLoiner@Mark45

Colin you think he has a choice ? I agree though that Grayson needs to stand up for himself and walk in protest at how the club is handled. He should get another job quite easily but the longer he leaves it the more dirt will stick to him and Mr Lorimer

Chareose

@NorthEastLoiner@Mark45

This is Ken Bates transfer policy in action, sell players who dont want to sign contracts that are with in his poormans wage budget as quickly as possible. If you want promotion to the premiership – you need a couple of players who are capable of playing IN THE PREMIERSHIP…… Its likely that those players will know there own worth or atleast suspect it, so…….. you have to keep them sweet, a top end champ to prem wage or a big hike if we get promoted……..its not bloody rocket science is it.

Bates doesnt oporate like that…………oh and before i get the usual ” we dont want another risdale crap”, please try to understand that we are only behind the top 5 most expensive football clubs in the premiership for ticket prices………therefore that should be reflected in our ambition and wage structure but isnt.

Colin

@Chareose@NorthEastLoiner@Mark45 Absolutely right.

Gryff

@Chareose@NorthEastLoiner@Mark45 Lorimer’s the one I don’t understand. He’s an absolute legend & must love the club. So why does he continue to back such a blatant asset stripper (or more worryingly idiot) as Ken Bates?

truefan

Yeah – lets boycott the games. Super idea, then I won’t have to listen to all the moaning and whinging from morons who seem to forget we were hours from going bust a few years ago. I can actually enjoy a game with fellow proper fans who want to get behind the club. Yes, it is a shame that our talisman has left, but ffs if someone offered to triple your wages would you change job? There is no way we can compete with premiership wages so we are a selling club – get used to it. If Bates does go, the best we can hope for is one of other parties from the last bidding process to take the club on. If this happens, do you honestly think they are going to pay premiership wages? No, in actual fact we would be lucky to be signing players from the conference, never mind the premiership. But we could then protest against the new owners, and so it would go on. There is no money coming to the club from any rich benefactor – if Bates goes, so does the club. If anybody can correct me, and name anybody with billions to spend who wants to tke the club over, then I will apologise profusely. Until then please don’t come to games. In fact go and see a club who have got loads of money, loads of other fickle plastic fans, a rich benefactor and great branding – yes become a scum fan, because that is the dream you want for Leeds.

BarneyWhite

@truefan I don’t get it – you are happy to see mighty Leeds fade away, loose our young talent and and be out gunned by Barnsley? I know we will never compete at the very top again but we should have the capability to mix it with Norwich, Wolves and Swansea.

truefan

@BarneyWhite

That is the exact point I am making – When all the clubs you have mentioned are in the championship, we do compete. In addition, if we got promoted we would be there along with them. However, we have always punched above our weight and it is our POSITIVE support which allows us to do so.

Frogman

@truefan @BarneyWhite If we get promoted? How will that ever happen if we continue to let players leave? I know we can’t pay top PL wages but surely what home grown talented players are looking for is ambition from their club which matches their own ambition?

I guess that if JH had seen Leeds showing drive and commitment he too would be willing to sign knowing that PL football is round the corner. Norwich managed to get into the PL by showing ambition, keeping hold of their key players when the PL vultures were circling above, we have failed to do this on so many occasions.

jacccqqques

@truefan You really don’t get it do you and you’re exactly the type of fan that our illustrious chairman thrives on. I suggest that you read a little bit into how we exited administration 4 years ago. The letter that KPMG wrote to all creditors on 24 July 2007 is easy to find on the internet and should explain how the sale could only be made to Leeds United Football Club Ltd (ie. FSF, the people who Ken Bates didn’t know but appointed him as Chairman of our club).

Hopefully you will then realise that the reason there is no money for wages that are competitive in this division and for realistic transfer fees (that is all the true fans really want) is due to excessive rent and all the profits from the major televised cup games, the sale of our best players and proceeds from tickets sales (THIS IS MONEY YOU ARE INVESTING IN YOUR CLUB) being invested on a ground that we don’t own. A ground that is owned by a company registered in a tax haven, with unknown beneficiaries milking the rewards.

All the money that could and should make us competitive and would make us competitive under any other owner, is going to private individuals who only have an interest in making money (YOUR MONEY) from Leeds United (YOUR CLUB).

The true fans aren’t fickle, they can just see the situation for what it is, you should take the time out to get up to speed.

Frogman

@jacccqqques @truefan Very well put. MOT

Mark45

@truefan Hours away from going bust because of Bates appalling and cynical financial sleight of hand that left the administrators with only one option i.e. allow him to clear debt attributed to his running of the club and then retain 100% control of the club debt free or put the club into liquidation. If Bates goes the club will not go with him, he hasnt invested any money in the club in 7 years, only taken money out. I have lots of dreams for Leeds future however i am realistic enough to know and can accept none of them are likely to happen, what i cant accept is being conned, lied too, mugged and taken for granted week after week season after season. Leeds dont need an abramovich or sheikh mansour, we just need one that isnt morally bankrupt and who genuinely cares about the club and its supporters. I am not disillusioned with Bates regime because of the lack of investment in players, it is the lack of any real hope or prospect of a better tomorrow.

banditsteve123

Truefan have you stopped taking your medication bates is bleeding this club dry and you try to defend him

banditsteve123

I for one dont want us to become the next man city wat i want is a chaiman who runs the club the right way invest in good young hungry players not let the wind there contracts down.Players like lees,white clayton should be on 4 year contracts build the team around them.how can thease players think leeds have ambition when good players wont resign,i dont blame howson or any other leeds player that goes there is no point staying to drift mid table at best

Chareose

What gets me is all the leeds fans saying ” well howsons not that good anyway” …….sorry to say we have a lot of nieve and hypocritical fans dont we???

First its “Howsons the best thing since sliced bread” Then its “howson cant tackle and goes missing” Then its “Howson is injured and so our form has gone down the pan” and finally ” Howson is leaving but hes not that good, screw him” lol

Then there was “Johnsons shite”, he goes onto become a fair success in the premiership

And……… “Gradel wont be missed after all we have Nunez who can play there” Yeah……. that worked didnt it and its not like we have missed our player of the season of last year is it ??? no ofcourse not……

Howson is a good player, not world class maybe, but PLAYED in his correct position rather than a defensive bloody midfeilder he is very capable and as other people have mentioned, hes home grown and he doesnt want to stay how many more will go ???

a few loan signings and the mug element of leeds support will be back buying season tickets and putting a cheeky smile on kens face again until the summer, the loanees go home and we find we have only the Leeds Dinner lady and a college trainee to put out on the pitch……

Then more excuses, more mind games…..

LUFCObiwan

I’ve being in denial since the rumours started circulating this morning but the news is gradually sinking in. I can only say that I am astonished at the complete and fucking utter disdain that Bates has for the Leeds fans. He still expects us to believe the same old crap rolled out every year over “contract talks stalling” and “greedy demands”. Our renewal forms have been staring at me for the last few days:- “should I, shouldn’t I”? Well decision made tonight. I want to roll them up and stick them up Bate’s wrinkly old fucking walnut. BATES OUT.

saltburnwhite

@ TSS how about getting the word out to all season ticket holders and leeds fans to boycott the live sky game at home to southampton ? You have the means to spread the word via twitter , facebook and the web …..spend everyday working as hard as you can to spread the word for all fans to boycott the game , we can still watch it on tv , but imagine the visual image and impact of 5-10 thousand fans in a 40,000 seater stadium the sky tv cameras would be sending out to the world .

For it to work ALL season ticket holders need to stay away for one game , and watch it at home . Then surely the NATIONAL media would pick up on it , and KEN would finally realise what this club means to all us leeds fans.

truefan

Go and support the Scum instead – they deserve you.

Colin

@truefan Not the worst idea in the world, It’s cheaper there and they play good football.

BarneyWhite

like it – i would sacrifice my ticket to see this – it would also be great to see true fan sat by himself

To be honest with you, I think protests are pointless. Especially ones where you’ve already paid for a ticket – Bates won’t give a shit.

I’m also opposed to telling fans what to do (or suggesting it to them). I’ve dropped links into articles of previous protests, but I’ve never been the one calling for them – nor would I ever be.

My belief is that you should present fans with facts or views and they should be able to make up their own mind based on that. If I believe strongly enough in something, I will defend my own opinion to the death but I’d never stop other people having their own. Whether they agree or disagree with what I write, it’s largely irrelevant to me. I’m capable of drawing my own conclusions and if someone presents a strong enough argument against them, I’m not too proud to rethink and change my stance.

With regards to Bates, my thoughts are that nothing will change while ever we continue to fund him so I’ve decided against renewing my ST and will only attend away games until his reign of terror comes to an end. That’s my own personal protest, and it’s been made with other factors taken into consideration too. If other people choose to do the same, then we’ll see where that leaves us, but I’m not going to suggest anyone should. It’s not my decision to make. Ultimately, if fans think it’s the right decision, they’ll follow suit. If they disagree, they won’t. Either way, everyone must come to their own conclusions and find the common ground based upon them.

My point is, if enough fans think a protest is in order (and will serve some purpose) then it’ll happen with or without my involvement – and already seems to be as it happens… http://bates-out.com/

Chareose

@TSS

agree

Colin

I’m that depressed with all this that I’ve had to listen to Leeds United Calypso.

The out of time chant of LEEDS LEEDS LEEDS LEEDS LEEDS … is truly unnerving, Colin. The singer also can’t quite decide if he is a club singer from Skelmersdale or Trinidad and Tobago.

Colin

@Dje Yeah, I’m prettuy sure they wanted to make sure that it didn’t appear to be over produced. I think they achieved that : )

Dje

Rough and ready, just like the old days. Boy how we miss them!

___

You must be absolutely gutted Colin, now your Jonny Howson has done the only honourable thing left to do with this club, leave it.

Colin

@Dje @Dje. Honestly, I’m devastated. I’m still hoping it doesn’t go through. Players like Howson don’t just walk away. If I know Jonny (and I think I do) then he would have planned to stay till the end of the season and made a decision then. Hey, he’s injured anyway so he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I’d guess that Howson just got a phone call from Shaun Harvey telling him that they had accepted an offer for him. Go and speak to Norwich. Madness!

Dje

Let’s hope so, Colin. Personally if I was Howson I’d wait til the end of the season regardless of Norwich’s interest. He can do better than Norwich, and at least then he’d know that he was joining a club with at least a full season in the Premiership – and not just 17 games (of which Howson will probably only be fit for ten).

And I seriously can’t believe the offer is £2m. That is a glorified pro-Bates stance that includes every last add-on about appearances, international call-ups and the like. Norwich don’t spend much as it is, so why spend £2m for an injured player who will only play ten gmaes at the tops for you before you could take him for free in the summer?

Add that to Lambert having said that that they would not bring anyone else in for money – as all money is being reserved for next season – and it smacks of a Shaun Harvey phone call to Norwich and offering them Howson for less than a million up front, two million with a string of add-ons. Norwich can hardly lose.

armchairexp

This is the one the fans originally redubbed ‘Leeds United Collapso’. Seems appropriate.

Chareose

Bradley is probably the one that sold Norwhich to him anyway……… “Jonny the women are awesome down here if you learn to ignore the webbed fingers :o)”

MarcButterworth

Hahaha…… Just listen to you sad stupid morons…. “boo hoo, they sold Howson. Lets stamp our feet and jump up and down. And as for this ball, I,m taking it home right no”

Get a fucking grip ffs… Havent you figured it out yet, you morons, I dont give a shit what you lot think… Protest all you fucking want… Just keep coughing up while you do it, you over ripe fucking cash cows.

The only mistake I ever made was letting you sheep find out I was stripping the assetts before you chucked your money at me again (which lets face it, you’ll fucking do anyway, coz your morons)

Of course no other customer base would put up with this shite. If they would, I wouldnt need to milk you lot would I.

By the way, has anyone got a spare string? The one on Graysons knee broke the other day and needs replacing.

Now fuck off back to your whinging and let me get on with counting your……shit, sorry, my money.

P.S If anyone fancies a couple of nights bed and breakfast in Las Beeston, we will soon have some very reasonably priced rooms available. £320 per night (the room is very poor quality and your bed will be removed just after you have paid, but you fucking pay it anyway and lie it or fucking lump it, coz your yorkshiremen and loyal)

Regards K Bites

Chareose

We can only hope that this is Kens final fire sale before exiting the club with as much money as he can stash in his abnormally large trouser pockets……. i know its bad to say but id take relegation if it meant getting rid of ken bates…………..a fresh start, new hopes, new youth players popping up and some of the season ticket money actually being spent on the team………….. Someone pinch me please im fantasizing

number1inyorkshire

ITS been an emotive day at the shed opinions a plenty as to the leadership of the club that we love and what to do about it .

we need to look at whats been said ,Leeds have said that they have been negotiating with howson for over a year and he has resisted the lure of the bates purse we are all guessing why, the size of the money been splashed ..now i do not think the size of the money would of ever been enough we can not compete with prem teams for money but more importantly football ,howson has recently had a kid so money will have been a factor but the lure of the prem league would have been a major factor ,he is best mates with johnson too ,in short he was never gonna sign at that point selling him was the only option .

Bates ,has to take responsibility ,there are in my opinion quality players at the level leeds play at ,quality at any level pro rata costs money ,we should be competing with every team for players at this level maybe those that came down have a little more money but for the rest its a level playing field ,based on money coming in we should be in the top 2-3 we are not that is down to the top table at leeds ,harvey bates grayson ,

we have 1 quality player snodders and some good ones they are not good enough to get us up and not good enough to keep us up .

it might be better now to buy players for next season but not loans we need quality leeds players not shite someone elses on loan because they can’t get in their own teams .

bates has said that all money made in transfers goes to grayson so add ,howson to gradel and some others who will leave plus what wasn’t spent in august it should be a decent amount go buy some players grayson .

show us the fans you can buy some quality to get us up next season playing good football to win it ,if there is no money tell us ,stop being a bates puppet ,let lorimer do that .and get out before he sacks you

Gryff

@number1inyorkshire But the point is not that Howson wanted Premiership football.

It should never have got this far. If we’d spent more (which we evidently can, given our £7mil new clothes for Emperor Bates) on keeping the good players who had us 2nd at one point last season then Howson wouldn’t feel the need to write us off.

He’s written us off because we’re now mid-table and going only one direction. AND we’re a selling club as shown by BJ, Kilkenny, Schmeichel, but mostly: Gradel.

This is the symptom of Bates’ either crass stupidity or maliciosness, not “one of those things”. If we accept that we’re not good enough to hold on to players who want to be in the EPL then Bates has already beaten and tamed us.

Colin

@Gryff@number1inyorkshire I agree Gryff. We cannot get promoted to the Premier League if we sell the players who are PL quality. And that’s what we’re doing. Irrespective of getting £2m, sure you could probably get another Danny Pugh, but the likes of Pugh won’t get you promoted to the PL. We’ve been there under Blackwell and (to some extent) Wise. We know it doesn’t work. The likes of Howson, Snodgrass, White, Clayton will. They’re exactly the players we’re linked with selling.

number1inyorkshire

@Gryff we have to remember colin that the players you name have us in 11th right now a long way from getting us promoted .

number1inyorkshire

@Gryff i agree thats what i said there are quality players in this division players we should be able to get that can take us forward .the reason we haven’t is down to the bates lot we know that . the point IS that howson wanted to play in the prem ,preferably with leeds ,a year a go when negotiations started and at any point between then and now a contract could be signed ,but money and promotion were not forthcoming and are not likely to ,so to get prem footy he has to leave which he has done ,to start negotiating 18 months before a deal is to end is enough for me ,what they offered was not for howson clearly ,and for others thats what is holding us back and why players are not coming and why others are leaving ,

Chareose

The year is 2015 and Simon Graysons new best selling book appears on sale

The Times ” awesome, gripping and moving, shows you just how low a football club can get”

Granmars book reading circle ” why are you quoting us you twat we didnt read it and we hate football!!!”

Ken Bates ” Oh piss off”

Altrincham Andrew

ACTION FOR SATURDAY:
1) half time: 15 mins of ” bates out” in all stands.
2) take own drink and boycott catering.
3) boycott programmes and shop.
4) 7 minutes of silence to mark 7 years of Bates in Leeds.
Pass it on……..

johno222

If Simon Grayson truly loves Leeds United surely he must respond in an open forum , where questions may be asked and a truthful response given.

How does a manager maintain his integrity when so many overiding factors against the proper running of a football club arise on a day to day basis?

The current propaganda is not disimilar to the end of the 3rd Reich, ie “When we get the wonder weapons of mass destruction the allies will be sent packing back to the sea”.

Absolute and complete lies!

As known this never happened but the faithful of Hitlers Party and people blindly trotted out this mantra to the end, an extreme analogy I know, but for many true supporters of the club the blinkers must surely come off.

The only way to defeat Bates is to Boycott the club in all ways possible, although this is a cutting of the nose to spite the face attitude, is there a real alternative to a man, who will continue in the same vein to milk profits from a lucrative fan base as long as he is able.

This may take a period of time to become effective, but would surely be preferable to the death agonies of a club existing only to make money for one individual.

oldschoolbaby

Initially, I felt as I did when Batty went but I`ve composed myself

I don`t really see the point of a football team if it doesn`t offer a chance for local lads to pull on the shirt. It didn`t work out well for Howson though. Especially as captain he felt the responsibility of covering for the back four. That`s not his forte. He struggled and took a lot of unjustified flak. To get the best out of him you have to amend your style of play. I rate him highly but he`s not quite good enough to build your team around

His loss is a savage blow when morale is low. Bates has to pull two or three rabbits out of a hat and he`s got less than a fortnight

Regardless. Marching On Together. It`s not incomprehensible Latin. It`s pride, loyalty and stoicism. It`s Yorkshire spirit. It`s what our fathers handed down to us. It`s not being weak, petulant and fickle. Ladbrokes have very reassuring odds on Leeds United having greater longevity than Ken Bates

Captaincrash

@oldschoolbaby well said!

Irving08

Final paragraph – brilliant. Penultimate one – so true. Opinions will differ on the second one.

Captaincrash

Snoddy as skipper I hope.

Irving08

@Captaincrash

Effectively he already is, I sense. It beats me why he wasn’t given the job as soon as Howson got injured. Anyone could see in the second half of the Blackpool game, when we saw a tanatalising glimpse of Snoddy playing in the centre, that he was the team leader, I am one of the old-fashioned types who thinks there is a job for a football captain to perform.

070707

support your club players come and go i for 1 happen to think that the way in which some of the so called fans have no belief in the players etc is a disgrace.. its the same mentality we see at blackburn… or put it another way imagine how you feel if your captian refused to sign a contract then jumped ship the players have known this for weeks and had to follow him as captain …lufc is BIGGER than ANY PLAYER always has been always will ….and to all the bates out crowd simple question THEN WHAT??? what some so called live long arab billione leeds fan been there remember we were HOURS away from having no club and for all the big talk only one stummped up the ££££… we been through it all together had are ups and downs and i know where i rather be 3pts from playoffs in champ or maybe ££bags leicester or ££bags ipswich or ££bristol city or maybe a pompey fan who has had more chairmen than wins in last year or maybe a coventry fan etc etc ..anyone can stand shout whing and complain so as one of the silent mariorty im sick or hearing bates out negative rants i was there in 74 ill be there til the day i die i repeat this because i bleed lufc …. its time to get real stand up support the club afterall we are supporters …..lufc til i die marchin on together leeds leeds leeds

lar

@070707 we wont have a club to support if bates is left at the helm.

mattbb1

@070707 Bates uses this tactic of `youre only hurting your club by these protests’ he did the same when MPs started asking questions about his running of the club – better the devil you know, if you like. But that isnt right. Bates is like a cancer at our club and he needs removing, that may well involve some collateral damage to our finances and standing, but the fact that we have the resources and support that we do means that we will get back – have faith – leave this abusive relationship! boycott bates – dont go to the game. Howson wont be..

Gryff

@mattbb1@070707 lol didn’t read your analogy. Ignore mine!

Gryff

@070707 It’s all very well complaining we don’t back our lads enough but that’s exactly what we’re doing with Howson. He’s played his heart out for us in positions he doesn’t specialise in and he supports the club. Now he thinks we won’t get in the Prem and he has to bail because he has the potential to be an England player (I would argue with him). We’re supporting him.

If we weren’t, we’d be calling him a Judas and telling him to get out.

Yes, the club is bigger than any one player; it’s also bigger than Mr Bates. He’s like a nasty virus: just because he’s inside doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be fighting him off, even if it damages us.

Gryff

wouldn’t argue*

Gezmond007

Boycott the next three home matches ! Go to the ground but don’t go in . That includes those who have already have season tickets. I’m sorry but it’s the only way. Bates will carry on as long as fans are willing to keep paying !

@Gezmond007 How does ST holders boycotting matches help anything? Easy for those that don’t hold ST’s to say, but to those of us that have already paid it’s a little different.

However, that’s not my real problem. Such gestures are merely symbolic. If individual fans feel the need to stop turning up at ER, then Bates will learn. If they don’t, then we’ll carry on as we are now for another 7 years. Down to the individual to make that decision though. I’m not renewing – that will do more damage that leaving my already purchased seat empty for the next 3 games.

mattbb1

How long will Simon Grayson put up with this is the question?Like Howson he is a fan, professional he may be but by association his name is being dragged through the sh1t by Bates. I wouldnt be suprised to see him sour faced sat next to Bates at a Press Conference like El Tel next to ridsdale when Woody was sold. None of this is good enough. I read an article last night on antoher site which basically said that the players were effectively now telling Bates they werent happy with his running of the club, and Kilkenny, Johnson, Howson and O Brien are those very examples. Howson has kept his mouth shut since yesterday, but surely all he wanted to see was the board actually trying to get us promoted, when he saw it wasnt happening, that the promise of premier league was fading he’s said enoughs enough. What price by the way for my shirt purchased in the summer – with Howson 14 on the back…. grrrr.

That aside I urge anyone reading this to boycott the next game, I’d planned to go but now I wont, I’ll go to ttteeeesscooo…. instead. But come on do the rest of you just want to sit there and take seeing snodgrass mcccormack and clayton sold this week – because thats on the cards. Ken Bates has sent a come and get them message to all the other suitors, hes broke the bank with his stupid project and recouping funds – it looks to me like were in financial difficulty again. Kick him where it hurts,

Colin

The following are words from Neil Kilkenny after his spat with Ken Bates in September 2011. His words sound especially fresh today:

“I was really close to Jermaine Beckford and they let him go on a free transfer. It’s hard to see that, but you can’t say anything.

“Over the years it’s happened over and over again and people have blamed the players, but now people are starting to see that when it happens four, five or six times, there’s something else going on.

Gryff

It is quite a coincidence isn’t it. And Frazer Richardson going all those years ago. Supposedly because Jason Crowe was better.

Frazer didn’t want to go either. He was one of the first kids I took a proper interest in watching him coming through the academy.

Colin

I’ve been thinking about the £2m that Leeds will get for Howson. In reality, Leeds will get nowhere near £2m. Here’s why:

We know from Ken’s account of the Gradel transfer, that 5% of all transfer fees go to the Football League – that’s £100,000.

A number of people are not renewing their season ticket as a result of the sale of Howson (not necessarily for Howson per se, but because of the message that sends to the fans). I call this ‘The Howson Effect’ – let’s say 1,000 do not renew as a result of this, at a conservative £500 a ST, that’s £500,000. Let’s assume that each of those 1,000 would have spent £100 each season on food, shirts, drinks etc, then that’s £100,000.

Let’s say that we get Delph. We know that Grayson never had the kitty to pay Delph’s wages so that would come out of the Howson sale also. Let’s say we pay Delph £30,000 a week for a loan of 4 months, that’s £480,000.

Since I’ve included Delph, then it’s only fair that I subtract Howson’s wages as well. Let’s say he’s on £7,000 a week for 5 months, then that’s £140,000 saved.

Colin

In summary:

£2.000,000 Howson sale

+ £140,000 Howson wages

= £2,140,000

– £100,000 5% Football League Payment

– £600,000 ‘The Howson Effect’

– £480,000 Fabian Delph’s wages

= £960,000

So we have £960,000 to find a replacement for Jonny Howson.

mattbb1

thats a combinatuion of wages and fee lets not forget. £10k a week for 3 years = £360K, so £600K for a transfer fee. If that doesnt buy us a reasonable replacement at championship level i’d be surprised, but of course we all know how much will go into the `war chest’, a round number. I actually think Ken would include these konies in next financial year, and thats how he sells it to grayson. that said wheres the funds from delph and gradel.

Colin

36 LONG AND BUSY HOURS GONE SINCE THE ANNOUNCEMENT. NOTHING FROM NORWICH CITY.

JONNY HOWSON IS STILL A LEEDS PLAYER. MAYBE HE HAS TURNED NORWICH CITY DOWN?